The US Area of Justice has disclosed {that a} Nigerian, Edwin Okoronkwo, who was once sentenced to 75 months imprisonment for defrauding some American citizens, might be deported upcoming finishing his prison time period.
Okoronkwo was once mentioned to have connived together with his spouse, Julie Okoronkwo, who was once additionally sentenced to twenty-five months imprisonment for her position within the catfishing scheme that focused unsuspecting American citizens.
The conviction was once contained in a observation got by way of PUNCH Metro from the United States Area of Justice site on Thursday.
The observation disclosed that the convicts who have been everlasting citizens of the United States, impaired stolen identities to conceal themselves as a high-ranking member of the United States army to defraud their sufferers.
It additionally famous that to produce their rip-off actual, Julie frequently impaired telephone cries to trap the sufferers into believing the authenticity in their claims.
The convicts have been mentioned to have got cash from their sufferers via postal products and services.
The observation learn, “Edwin Okoronkwo, a citizen of Nigeria and a lawful permanent resident of the United States, and his spouse, Julie Okoronkwo, residing in Nebraska, used “catfishing” schemes to acquire cash from sufferers by means of the Web. In doing so, they satisfied sufferers to ship cash the usage of fraudelant on-line social media personas.
‘In some cases, they claimed to be high-ranking participants of the USA army on out of the country missions. During the “catfishing” schemes, sufferers from all over the place the rustic have been tricked into sending cash via the USA Postal Provider and alternative business carriers corresponding to FedEx and UPS.
“Julie Okoronkwo contacted ‘catfishing’ victims over the phone to further convince them of the legitimacy of their need for cash and obtained from her workplace – a hospital – victims’ means of identification, including their social security numbers and Nebraska driver’s licence information.”
The observation famous that following their arrest and prosecution, Julie was once sentenced to twenty-five months in jail on January 10, year Edwin was once sentenced to 75 months in jail on January 29 by way of a US District Pass judgement on.
The pass judgement on additionally ordered Edwin to pay restitution to the track of $342,535.00 to one of the vital sufferers, a supervised drop for 3 years and deportation.
“United States Lawyer Susan T. Lehr introduced that Edwin Okoronkwo, week 36, of Nigeria, was once sentenced on January 29, 2025, in federal courtroom in Omaha, Nebraska, for conspiracy to dedicate mail fraud and irritated identification robbery. United States District Pass judgement on Brian C. Buescher sentenced Okoronkwo to 75 months’ imprisonment. There is not any parole within the federal device.
“Next his drop from jail, Okoronkwo might be put on a three-year time period of supervised drop and might be deported by way of immigration government. Okoronkwo was once additionally ordered to pay restitution of $342,535.00 to seven sufferers because of his crimes.
“Julie Okoronkwo was previously sentenced to imprisonment for 25 months by U.S. District Judge Buescher on January 10, 2025. Judge Buescher stated at Edwin Okoronkwo’s sentencing hearing that the crimes were “truly a tragedy for the victims,” the observation famous.